Even though everyone's talking about it, fact of the matter is that Google's Chrome OS is currently nothing more than an internet announcement, with a supposed release date of somewhere in 2010. Google chief executive Eric Schmidt has now stated that netbooks running Chrome OS could appear as early as this year. In addition, Schmidt also talked about his position at Apple's board of directors.

now, I am a fan of Google BUT Microsoft have done some groundbreaking work in a number of fields.

I appreciate they are unpopular because of their market share and some 'shady' practices but credit where credit is due please

Innovations such as.....?

I'm not being a smart ass but realistically, what have they contributed that would be of an innovative nature (assuming one defines innovative as 'the best implementation of an idea')?

I look at Windows 7 for example, their flag ship product, the anchor on which everything spins around - and it reminds me of the mish-mash, ad-hoc approach to desktop design of Linux 10 years ago. Mountains of different widget kits used, ranging from Windows 3.11 all the way up to Windows 7; then there are the technologies merged but never taken advantage of - why haven't they killed off GDI+/GDI and replaced it with a shim sitting ontop of Direct2D/DirectWrite?

One can dance around naked all day as to the supposed 'innovation' by Microsoft but when one seeks evidence for such a claim - its very few and far between.

How about getting a computer on every desk, in every home? I find that a pretty big innovation.

In addition, they pioneered the model where software is not tied to the hardware (very uncommon when they started in the home business), which played a major - if not the only - role in making computing affordable.

People always say "yeah well, someone else would've done it if MS didn't do it", but that's a nonsense argument. You might as well say the same about Einstein's Theory of General Relativity.

Innovation isn't just about features, it's also about concepts.

I won't go into your Windows 7 remark, because I don't want to emberass you by listing the amount of inconsistencies in for instance Mac OS X.

now, I am a fan of Google BUT Microsoft have done some groundbreaking work in a number of fields.

Hmmm. I think it would be safe to say that the the ratio of *actual innovation* to *talking about innovation* would be distinctly higher for Google.

Truth be known... innovation is best enjoyed in moderation. 99% of what makes a good OS is skillful selection, implementation and integration of extant features, regardless of origin, along with good taste, and good judgement. Constant innovation is also known as "churn". Few users... and even fewer admins... like it.